Love is a Wonderful Thing
by klainchel95
Summary: Blaine Anderson has been holding his son, Rayden, back from love as much as he could in the past 18 years but when Rayden comes home & explains tell his dad about a girl, Blaine gives in and tells him about his mother & the story of how they fell in lov


It was a surprisingly warm day in spring, since it was only mid-March but Blaine didn't let the opportunity slip from his hands as he had his work spread out in front of him on the patio table that was placed on his back deck. It was a bit humid and from what he could tell from the clouds, it was no doubt going to rain, but Blaine was going to hold out in the nice weather for as long as he could. He heard his son walk into the house through the screen door and he shouted a hello, hoping it would carry to Rayden's ears.

Blaine was surprised to hear the screen door open, and he looked up to see his son standing in front of him. Rayden was smiling in a way that Blaine recognized and something in his chest clenched as he tried to remain calm. "Afternoon son, how was your day?" Blaine took off the reading glasses he wore when he worked hard over a pile of papers. "You're a bit late coming home, did you have something after school?"

Rayden sighed and shook his head, the smile still evident on his face. "I met someone." He dropped his backpack to the ground and took the seat across from his father.

"Where?" Blaine tried to make it seem like his voice was relaxed whereas the rest of his body was tensed.

"The Lima Bean,"

Blaine nodded, understanding that sometimes his son went there. It was still a hang-out for all the kids who went to McKinley and the surrounding schools, even after almost 20 years since Blaine had gone there on a regular basis. Blaine hadn't left Lima ever since Rayden was born, he just didn't have the heart to leave the small town.

"What's her name?" Blaine asked.

"Michele," Rayden beamed at just saying her name. The look he had on his face was no doubt the sign of love. "Dad, look," Blaine snapped out of his thoughts and focused on his boy across the table. "I know you're a bit strange when it comes to me being in relationships but I honestly believe that she may be someone important in my life in the future. I've been seeing her for a while now, every day after school at the Lima Bean and sometimes on the weekend. I know you've always cautioned me against getting involved with anyone, for reasons you haven't even told me!" Blaine flinched at the under-lying anger in his son's voice and it began to dawn on him that maybe he had been a bit to forceful on him when it came to this types of things. "I don't think that just because you're alone, means that I should be as well." Rayden ended sadly.

"You know I met your mother at the Lima Bean," Blaine said, smiling slightly remembering. "When I was 17 all I could think about was love too. Like yourself, I was pretty mature for a senior in high school, and after I got past all that teenage boy stuff I really began to open my eyes and trying to see past the walls of McKinley. That's when I met your mother. I mean, I had already known her. We went to school together for four years but it was in the Lima Bean one day and I had just taken a break from college applications when I bumped into her and my eyes really opened. Don't think about love like it's some cliché, 'cause it happens to everyone." Blaine sat back in his chair slightly, and tore his gaze away from his son for a moment. "Heartbreak happens to everyone as well, Ray."

Blaine was waiting in line to get a refill on his usual coffee order when he was almost knocked off his feet. "Oof!" The girl who had barreled into him fell slightly and he had to catch her before as she seemed to about to take a face-plant right there in the Lima Bean. "Sorry!" She squeaked, pulling away from Blaine.

"It's okay, are you alright?" He asked, and when she looked up at him, finally giving him a good full view of her face something about her caught him off guard. Her brown eyes were like a pair he'd never seen before, balancing on the edge of golden. Blaine was distracted for a moment to long because she was looking at him perplexedly, "Blaine? I asked if you were alright."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine," He said smiling, and when she called him by her name it clicked in his brain where he knew her from. "Rachel right? Rachel Berry, yeah I know you." Blaine smiled down at her when she chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, we've kind of been in the same building for the past four years," Rachel said, "However I can't pull that guilt-trip card because we've never had a class together. I'm surprised you know my name."

Blaine took his newly filled coffee mug from the barista. "I've seen you around before," He had actually noticed her around school, she was one of the smartest people at McKinley and had her eyes set for Broadway and he had seen her in the musical last year. She was extremely talented and he had always thought she was cute but nothing ever more than that. "Sorry, about before. But hey, I'll talk to you at school alright? You seemed like you were in a rush."

"Oh yeah," Rachel said as if she had forgotten and only then remembered. "I was on my way to go over to that table…" Blaine followed her gaze that went over his shoulder and saw no empty seats. "… but it's been taken now."

"Well, if you want, you can sit with me." Blaine offered. "I took a four-seat table to spread out. College applications y'know? But I can move them to make some room for you."

Rachel beamed. "Awesome, thank you."

"_Order #13!_"

"Oh that's me," Rachel turned around to look at the barista holding up a mocha. "I'll be right there."

Rachel caught up with Blaine not even a few minutes after he had taken his seat and finally managed to somewhat organize his papers to make some room for the girl. She slid into the seat across from him and he felt her foot graze his beneath the table. "Sorry," Rachel said softly, a blush rising to her cheeks and she tried to hide it while she took a sip of her coffee.

Blaine's mouth rose in a small smile, watching her and how her slightly full, and naturally pink lips wrapped around the edge of her cup, sipping slowly. A soft curl fell in her eyes and once again, the golden eyes looked up, first at the stray strand of hair then past the curtain of brown and into his eyes. It was when the sound of her soft laughter carried to him that he was broken from his thoughts. "What?"

"Sorry, it's just difficult not to notice when you're staring at me. Stare any longer and you might just fall in love with me." She smirked, not thrown off by the bluntness of her own words. "I really shouldn't say such a thing, but your eyes tell me everything I need to know." Blaine must've made a startled face, because she laughed again as if it was a joke the two had shared for years. "Don't worry, love is a wonderful thing."

"Mom really said that to you?" Ray asked.

Blaine nodded, remembering how she had continued to laugh and how he had joined in, brushing it off as a joke. "I thought she was fooling around with me, but the next thing I knew I was falling in love with your mom and I asked her to marry me. She was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen." Blaine smiled sadly. "She was the girl of my dreams."

Blaine was having the time of his life. He and Rachel had been going strong for a full five years, in love for the last year of high school and all through college. They were lying out on the balcony of the small apartment they had bought together. It didn't have a great view, but it was a clear night in New York City and so they were tangled up in blankets together, looking at the stars. He flashed back to that moment back in the Lima Bean when she had predicted him falling in love with her, and it wasn't until then that he realized how right she had been.

Rachel's hand was intertwined with his and the pad of his thumb moved soothingly back and forth against the back of her hand. She turned her head away from the stars to look at him, catching his gaze. "Why are you staring at me like that?" She giggled. It was a common question he got asked by her. "Why aren't you looking at the stars? This is the first night in a long time that we'll be able to see them."

"Why would I look at the stars a billion light years away for one night, when I have my very own right beside me?"

Rachel blushed and nudged him playfully, and he liked the way she still got embarrassed by his cheesy lines, even though she has told him countless times they were charming and adorable.

"I love you, you know that?" He whispered, still smiling at her.

"I know," She replied honestly.

It was a simple response but it was enough for Blaine. They had spent so much time together in the past five years that absolutely nothing could tear them apart. He had followed her to New York City and now she was successful, they were in love, and Blaine wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with her, like this, enveloped in bliss.

"Stand up," He said suddenly, touching his arm lightly before he stood up himself.

"What?" Rachel looked up at him confused.

"I said stand up,"

"Why?" She asked, even though she did as he asked.

"So I can do this," Blaine kissed her softly before he pulled away and bent in front of her on one knee, pulling out a box from his inner shirt. "I know I sometimes say cheesy things like just now about you being a star, but it's true. You're the brightest light I have in my life and I never want it to go out. You know that I love you, so I'm asking you," Blaine lifted the lid, revealing a small, but otherwise decently sized, diamond ring, "Rachel Berry, will you marry me?"

It seemed like the longest moment of Blaine's life right then as Rachel overcame several emotions. First confusion, then shocked, then the tears rolled but it was from happiness. She tackled him right then and there, both of them following in a heap in the pillow and blankets they had been lying in earlier. It was a tangle of kisses and Rachel repeatedly saying 'yes' and Blaine's smile never ceased.

"Love is a wonderful thing," He breathed her own phrase, letting it settle in the air between their mouths before they connected once more.

"You must have been scared for a moment," Ray said, "Did you think she was going to say no?"

Blaine shook his head. "At the moment, of course I did, I figured the worst possible thing was about to happen, that she didn't want to be with me."

However that wasn't the case, she did, but it seemed life didn't want it to work out that way.

"I guess the reason I'm telling you this son, is because it seems like your falling in love yourself. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe I'm right," he said, cutting off Rayden before he could interrupt. "I don't want to see you get hurt, no parent wants that for a child, especially if it's emotional because it hurts a lot more than if you were to fall off your bike and break your arm." Blaine would trade his entire life spent in a body cast if it meant Rachel could be by his side. "Life can be wonderful, almost as wonderful as love, Ray, but life can also be terrible. I don't want to see the same happen to you."

However, what Blaine really wanted to tell his son was to walk away from this girl, not to fall in love and set himself up for heartbreak. But then Blaine remembered how happy he was in the time he had spent when he had time to spend with Rachel and he would always know that it was worth it no matter what, even if it meant losing everything in the end.

And that's why Blaine didn't indulge in the details of his mother's death. The boy knew his mother was gone and Blaine didn't want to pass the burden of hurt and pain onto his son, because it was still fresh, Blaine could still feel it and he'd rather endure it every day until he died than destroy the even slightest chance of happiness his son had.

Blaine had just put down Rayden for a nap when Rachel came up to him and asked to talk to him in the living room downstairs. He noticed how pale she looked and how weak she was when she tried to pick up a pitcher of water to pour him a glass.

"Hey," He said gently, placing his hand over the one that was struggling with the pitcher. "Leave it, I'm fine Rachel. Talk to me."

Rachel put the pitcher down and leaned back into the couch with an exasperated sigh, burying her face in her hands. Blaine sat beside her, rubbing her knee in a comforting matter. He could tell how tired she was, Rayden was still only a few months old and it was beginning to wear on her, however Blaine had a dreadful feeling that it was something else Rachel wanted to talk to him about.

When she seemed to gather herself, Rachel sat forward and held Blaine's hand with both of hers. "Blaine, I have to tell you something. A terrible, terrible thing," He voice had already begun to crack under the pressure of whatever she was about to say and they squeezed each other's hands in unison. After a shaky, deep breath, Rachel continued. "The other week, when you were traveling with the company, I went to the doctor. I'm… I'm sick Blaine, and I've only got a few weeks left."

Blaine's ears shut down after that and his eyes barely registered anything besides the blurry movements of her lips as tears fell from his face. He let go of her hand and stood up in the middle of the living room, covering his mouth in shock. "No," he said, shaking his head in denial. "It's impossible; you were healthy just a few months ago. The doctor said both you and Rayden were fine!" Blaine was struggling not to yell, but it was screams that were threatening to escape from his throat.

"This type of cancer can appear suddenly-_Blaine_!" Rachel cried, as he fell to the ground on his knees. He could barely keep himself up on his knees, much less on his own two feet. It took all his will to look up at Rachel when she took her place in front of him.

Rachel.

His Rachel. His wonderful, beautiful, talented, now-the-mother-of-his-child Rachel. She was there, right in front of him, and so real and the thought that she wouldn't be in a few weeks made the sound of his heart tearing in two loud enough to deafen him.

"I don't want you to be sad," She said, cupping his face with her hand, running her fingers through his curly dark hair. "I want to enjoy the rest of my time with you. Blaine, not spend it crying." Rachel pulled him to her, pressing their foreheads together. "I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, sorry. You were the greatest thing to ever happen to me."

Blaine nodded, but the taste in his mouth was bitter. "Life is a terrible thing,"

"Yes, but you remember that love is wonderful?"

Blaine pulled back, looking deep into those golden-brown eyes that hadn't changed a bit since they ran into each other in the Lima Bean. "But when you're gone which will I be left with to face?" The answer was obvious, and though it was unspoken, it was there, hanging between the two of them, and that's the moment when Blaine was almost certain he could hear his heart breaking.


End file.
